Expat Critical Illness Insurance
Critical Illness can occur unexpectedly for expats based away from their home country and may cause physical disability and financial strain on not just the person that is ill but also on the whole family. People and families require a cover plan that understands their needs for coverage of critical illness insurance, early-stage illnesses and juvenile illnesses to relieve the financial burden you could potentially face. Critical Illness plans cover a wide range of illnesses and an affordable insurance plan designed with extensive protection for over many illnesses can offer clients comfort knowing this is in place should the worst occur.
Reasons To Have Critical Illness Insurance As An Expat
- Cash to pay for medical treatments not covered by your health plan
- Cash to pay your mortgage while you are recovering
- Cash to pay bills – from car payments to insurance premiums
- Cash so you can travel for treatments not available locally
- Cash to pay for experimental treatments (not covered)
- Cash to replace a spouse’s income while caring for the insured
Types Of Critical Illness Covered
You need to read your policy carefully as the illnesses covered vary from insurer to insurer. Some commonly covered illnesses are:
- cancer
- stroke
- heart attack
- kidney failure
- major organ transplant
- multiple sclerosis
Do you need critical illness insurance?
In considering whether you need critical illness insurance, you have to consider a number of factors:
- Could you support yourself or your dependents financially if you suffered from one of the covered illnesses?
- Does your employee benefits package provide cover for time off work due to sickness?
There is no point in taking out critical illness insurance if you are already suffering from a critical illness because pre-existing medical conditions will not be covered. You may be refused cover if you have consulted to see your doctor about a health problem that later turns out to be critical, or if you have had tests done for the condition.
It is very important for all applicants to disclose fully and accurately when you apply for the critical illness insurance details of any existing illnesses or pre-existing conditions. If you have any existing conditions it doesn’t mean the insurer will refuse to cover you. They would request you to attend a medical with one of their approved list of doctors on their panel first. They may then increase the premiums to reflect their risk of offering you the correct cover from their insurance products.
How Does A Critical Illness Insurance Protection Scheme Work?
Critical Illness Insurance schemes pay a lump sum either when you are first diagnosed with a critical illness (as defined by the policy), or after having a type of surgery covered by the policy. The payout from the policy money is tax free and can be used in any way you prefer to. When you take up a critical illness insurance policy, you can decide how long the term of your policy coverage will be and the sum assured.
Do I need critical illness cover?
Whether you need critical illness cover or not is a personal decision, as many of these conditions cannot be predicted. However, critical illness insurance can save you and your family from illness-caused financial burden due to loss of income, ongoing care and medication, and even home renovation (installing a wheelchair ramp, for example) and funeral costs, should the insured pass away.
Underwriting Critical Illness Cover
The underwriting process for critical illness cover is rigorous. Factors such as your age, occupation, state of health, whether you smoke or not, and the sum insured will be taken into account when deciding your premiums. One point to note is that, as is the case with “regular’ health insurance plans, any pre-existing condition will be excluded from critical illness coverage.
Choose the conditions to cover
As mentioned earlier, most critical illness policies will cover treatments associated with major critical conditions, such as chemotherapy for cancer, coronary bypass surgery, stroke, and heart attack. To be eligible for a lump sum payment, you must be diagnosed with a critical illness listed in your policy, so make sure you choose the conditions you want to be covered for.
Our recommendation is to apply for as many of the available critical illnesses as possible within a given plan, or at least the most common ones. Many of the common critical diseases are associated with cardiovascular issues, so anything related to heart and artery issues is a good choice.
Loss of limbs, hearing, sight, etc. are typically insured as well, because these types of conditions exclude you from performing work in the future, so critical illness cover offers the insuree constant payouts in such cases. This protection comes under the umbrella of total and permanent disability, which is a related insurance product.
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